Nch’i Wana Community Needs Assessment
Project Profile
Client:
Nch’i Wana Housing
Project Location:
Columbia River Gorge, Pacific Northwest
Project Time Frame:
April - December 2022
Services:
Household Survey
Focus Groups and Interviews
Analysis of Newly Collected Data
Needs Assessment
Areas of Focus:
Demographics
Economic Development
Health
Housing
Permanent Supportive Housing
Behavioral Health and Housing
Income
Project Description
Nch’i Wana Housing is working with Big Water Consulting to conduct a Community Needs Assessment of people living along the Columbia River at treaty and in-lieu fishing sites and adjacent communities. The Community Needs Assessment will collect actionable data that Nch’i Wana Housing and its partners providing services to tribal members and residents of these sites can use to plan for future housing and community development projects and to strengthen their programs and services.
A new nonprofit organization, Nch’i Wana Housing was established to empower the Nch’i Wana Pum, or People of the Big River, by ensuring they have safe and sufficient housing, economic opportunities along the River, and other programs and services to make the Columbia River a great place to live, all rooted in Native culture.
The Columbia River Basin is the home of several Native Tribes. In 1855, the United States government entered into treaties with the Tribes whereby the Tribes ceded most of their land, but retained the right to fish at their ancestral fishing sites—these are now referred to as treaty sites. However, the damming of the Columbia River behind the Bonneville and Dalles Dams in the first half of the 20th century flooded a number of these sites, submerging them completely. As mitigation for the flooding of these sites, Congress set aside new sites for the displaced communities—these are the in-lieu sites.
